Saria's Song
by Mamuta
Summary: Things aren't going so well for Saria after Link's recent departure from the forest and the death of the Deku Tree. She retreats into the forest for a little alone time, but she's interrupted by a surprise attacker.


"-ome on Saria. You can't stay in bed all day. It's not healthy, or whatever."

The sound of the fairy's voice stirred Saria out of her deep sleep. She attempted to push herself out of bed meekly before prompltly flopping back down in defeat, green strands of hair landing squarely in her face. She let out a weak "Try me." before rolling over onto her side. Yesterday had been a long day.

The idea of never leaving her comfort under the blankets seemed heavenly, but she knewe Ivan would manage nag her awake one way or another. Waking her up was the one part of Ivan's job that he wasn't too lazy to do. Another push and she was sitting up, fumbling around under her pillow for the one thing she never went anywhere without.

Then yesterday's events hit her like a brick. She let out a long sigh, sliding her hands over to her bedside drawer. She pulled it open, flopping her hands through it, feeling for the instrument's rough texture. She pulled out a circular, wooden instrument. Her backup Ocarina. It wasn't as neatly crafted as the original, as Saria had handmade it herself. She'd never intended on using it unless something had happened to her old one. She felt the the instrument's rough exterior, already missing the smooth texture of her old instrument.

She slipped the small instrument into her pocket and made her way out the carved out entrance to her tree house.

* * *

Instead of the usual sounds of shouting and playing and working that the Kokiri Forest provided, the Kokiri forest today was filled with an eerie, awkward silence, aside from the occasional muttering or the natural sounds the forest itself made. As Saria looked around she noticed the same glossed over look on many of the children, whether they be desperately trying to bring energy to a game nobody seemed to be really invested in, working on plants, or having minor chatter among themselves. It was as if something was eating away at them. It was expected, considering the events of the day before, but Saria had hoped that everyone could just go ahead and ignore yesterday.

Saria wanted nothing more than to crawl back into bed, but she knew Ivan wouldn't allow it. Instead, she decided almost automatically to to seek out Fado. If she was going to be out here for most of the day, she'd rather spend it with someone she knew she'd actually be comfortable with at the moment. Hopefully her endless amounts of energy haven't been cut off by yesterday's events.

As she made her way across the main path of the small forest village, her daily chores soon became an afterthought. It's not like anyone would be bothering her about not completing them today. It seemed conceited and lazy of her when she thought of it that way, using the death of her guardian to get out of gathering fruit, but at the same time, it didn't really matter. Nothing mattered.

It didn't take long to find Fado. As soon as Saria spotted Fado's golden twin ponytails from behind, the girl glanced backward at her and smiled. Saria could tell a natural Fado smile from a forced one, though.

"Morning." Even her voice was missing the usual pep.

"Morning." Saria replied dully.

"You...don't look so good. Or sound so good." She frowned. "Are you okay?"

While Saria appreciated the concern, she had to wonder why Fado was even asking. Surely she was aware of what happened yesterday. right? Fado could be dense, but she wasn't THAT dense.

"Yeah..I didn't sleep that good last night." She said through her hands as she rubbed her eyes.

Fado's concerned frown grew grew bigger. "I'd be surprised if _anybody _did. I sure didn't..."

Seeing the normally happy-go-lucky Fado like this didn't exactly cheer Saria up like She'd hoped. It was kind of silly to assume she'd be happy go lucky on today of all days, really.

"I'm telling you, he's the one that killed the Deku Tree."

"No way a scrawny kid like that could pull it off!"

Fado immediately faded from Saria's mind as she focused on the source of the noise. A crowd of Deku children gathered near the small village's one and only store. Saria felt a rush of confusion, and then anger. She knew exactly who was behind this.

She began marching over, vaguely hearing some sort of warning from Fado, but what she had said didn't register. Nothing she said would at this point.

"That's why he did it! He was mad that he wasn't man enough to have a fairy, so when the deku tree called him, he just marched right in there and-

Shoved past several other Kokiri to make her way to the center of the circle. There, the back of a shorter, long haired boy stood, appearing to be preaching to the Kokiri in front of him. He noticed that he had lost their attention in favor of something behind him. He turned and immediately turned pale.

Mido.

His freckle dotted face lost color. "S-saria..." he stammered. He knew exactly where this conversation was going.

"Mido..." Saria said, her voice trembling slightly. "I know you hate him. I know you do...but you don't seriously think..."

"Well, it makes _sense._" Mido said, crossing his arms. Saria noticed that he had a habit of doing that when he started acting like a jerk. "Link was the last person there when he died. I mean, come on. He was always jealous of me being the Deku Tree's favorite. Maybe he-

Saria couldn't tell you what happened next for the life of her. The next thing she knew, her fist was out, Mido was on the ground, and people all around her were gasping and whispering.

Mido rubbed his cheek where Saria's fist had impacted. "Why..." he muttered. "Why do you keep _defending him?!_" His voice rose as he pushed himself up into a sitting position.

"_Because you don't understand him!_" Saria shouted back, not even trying to hide any trembling in her voice. _"You never gave Link a chance! And now...you're blaming the Deku Tree's death on **him. **_Harmless little Link, a_ murderer..._ "

She couldn't even form words at that point. Her eyes clouded her vision. Her throat stung.

She promptly spun on her heel and sprinted toward the direction of the lost woods, shoving people out of her way.

"Saria! Wait! Come back! _Saria!." _

* * *

Saria was playing her Ocarina. Loud.

Her Ocarina was the one thing that calmed her no matter what the circumstances were. It gave her something to focus on. It gave her a distraction.

Even with a song she'd been trying to perfect for weeks to focus on, thoughts of the past few days still floated in the back of her head. Why did the Deku Tree have to die? Why did Link leave? What _happened_ during that meeting of theirs?

Her song was interrupted by the sound of rustling grass. She immediately pulled her head out of her hands and looked around. Nobody ever followed her out here. They didn't know the way...did they? She pushed herself off the log she had always sat on when she came out here, looking around.

She immediately turned on her heel and glanced up at the towering temple that Saria was always curious about, but could never check out. The temple nearby's entrance had been destroyed since she first found this place. As far as she knew, nothing could get in or out. The sound couldn't have been coming from there.

She turned back around just in time to see a dark figure speeding towards her. She immediately put her hands up in feeble defense, but the creature tackled her to the ground. A fury a black limbs scratched and clawed at her. Saria screamed and cried as the limbs cut through her sleeves and left deep cuts on her arms. Her mind was so gripped with fear that she couldn't even get a clear grasp on who the attacker was.

Finally, after an eternity, Saria managed to get a solid kick on the creatures midsection, forcing the creature off of her. She immediately pushed herself up and ran, ignoring the searing pain in her arms. She immediately stopped when she realized that there was nowhere to run to. The creature had cut off her regular exit and the only thing that lied in the other direction was the closed off temple.

She turned to face her attacker. The creature knew she wasn't going anywhere before she did, judging by the fact that it had settled with creeping towards her on all fours. It was then that Saria finally managed to get a good look at it. It looked like some sort of dog, but it's body was far too big and it's claws and fangs were long. Saria had heard about this creature before, but never did the Deku Tree describe it as so...grotesque.

It began sprinting toward her again, prepared to finish her off for sure this time. All Saria could bring herself to do was close her eyes, bracing herself for the pain.

...

It never came

Her eyes opened, and the first thing she saw was a back clad in green with a short blade strapped to it. Blonde hair peeked out of a familiar green cap. Between him and the monster was a solid wooden shield, remarkably similar to the one she had always seen being sold in the Kokiri market.

Link.

A hard shove of the Shield forced the creature back, away from Saria, and Link ran out to meet it. It outstretched it's clawed hand to deliver another swipe, causing Saria's heart to stop, but before she could gasp out some sort of warning, Link was already out the way, rolling off to the creature's side and swiping at it with his sword.

"The back!" A voice shouted up above the chaos. Saria immediately glanced up and saw a fairy she recognized as Link's. "Aim for it's back!"

The creature cried out, drawing Saria's attention back to the action. Link must have gotten a decent hit. He went in for another swing, but the creature was faster, slashing at the hand that held the blade, knocking it off to the side.

"Link!" Saria shouted as the creature charged forward. Swiping and clawing at the thin shield between it and Link. There was nothing he could do.

_There's nothing he can do. _Saria thought. Immediately she began looking around the ground for something, _anything_ she could use to fight the creature.

_Duh. The sword._ Saria thought. Locating it was easy, the sun bounce off it's blade like it was a mirror.

Saria snatched it off the ground and charged toward the creature, jamming the blade into it's back.

The creature's cry was even louder this time. It collapsed onto the ground, signs of life fading from it's face. At that moment, Saria had almost felt bad for it.

Then, quicker than it had came, the creature evaporated into smoke, gone.

The only sound Saria heard besides her own deep heavy breath was Links. They looked at eachother. The tense, courageous look Link had in his face during the battle was gradually being replaced by Link's usually shy, serious look.

"Hey."

* * *

"You're serious."

Saria nodded, taking another sip of the potion Link had given her. The searing pain that gripped her arms was almost a distant memory. "They all think it was you."

Link put his hands in his face, letting out a muffled sigh. "Unbelievable."

"Well...it's mostly just Mido...and I kind of punched him in the face for it."

Link's face transformed to a stunned stare, and then to one with a hint of a mischievous grin. "Really?"

Saria nodded smiling a bit as well. Link rarely ever showed any hint of a smile, but when he did, it was contagious.

"How hard?"

"Back eye for sure."

The two shared a bit of a giggling fit. Saria hadn't felt this at ease in days.

"I just can't believe it though.." Saria began. "That someone...or something...would _poison _the Deku Tree from the inside...I was hoping he died peacefully...but that must have been so...painful" her voice trembled. "And you...are you okay?"

"Me?"

"That obviously wasn't your first fight since you left...and it's only been a day." She said. "I'm worried about you."

Link's face reddened a bit. "I-I'm fine." He stuttered. "Really...you get used to it pretty fast."

Saria could only look down. That wasn't what she wanted to hear.

The silence lasted for a few moments before Saria decided to spoke up. "How did you find this place?"

"Oh...I just followed the noise."

"Noise?"

"Your Ocarina." He explained. "People told me you came in here, and from there I just...followed your music."

"Really?" Saria questioned. If she wanted to continue to have this place to herself, she'd have to start playing a little quieter.

Link nodded. "It was really good..."

"Thanks." Saria smiled. "I've been working on it out here for a while..."

"Can you teach me?"

"Hm?"

"Well..." Link said, his eyes shyly loosing focus on Saria. He did that whenever their conversations got a bit personal. She was almost relieved to know that the fighting hadn't completely changed him. "I...might not be back for a while. Maybe not ever again."

Saria's heart sunk at this news. She could tell Link wasn't sticking around, but never coming back again? She had already lost so much.

Link must have noticed her change in facial expression. "I-I mean I'll probably come back...if I can...I just...I don't know...it's a really nice song...It'll help me remember you. No matter how far away I go...wow, that was cheesy."

It was Saria's turn to turn red. Link was such a sweet little dork when he wanted to be.

"Okay." She said. "Just watch my fingers really close..."

* * *

Link had finished reciting the song for what must have been the 20th time on his Ocarina before Saria was satisfied. Things always had to be perfect with her.

"Okay." Saria smiled. "Let's try it together."

They matched eachother perfectly as they went through the notes one last time. As soon as they finished the last one, a bright green light emanated from the instrument.

"Woah." Saria said. "What's this?"

Navi finally chimed in after being silent for most of the play session. "I've heard about this! Green glow..." She trailed off, clearly in thought.

Saria chimed in. "Green means magic that brings things from one place to another, right?"

"Yeah!" Navi exclaimed, shaking up and down from excitement. "This one is for communication. All it takes is two people with a strong connection and something that connects them."

"So that means..." Link began, his voice also echoing out of Saria's glowing Ocarina.

"_We can still talk to each-other!" _Saria shouted, elated. She hopped up from her position on the log and wrapped her arms around Link.

"Saria...kind of...crushing me..." Link's muffled voice sputtered out.

"I don't _care." _She retorted, squeezing him even harder.

_"No...seriously..."_ he choked out, and Saria finally let him go.

"I know you have a something important to do..but just play it every once in a while. Then I'll know you're okay."

Link nodded. "Just...don't worry too much about me. I'll be okay. I promise you."


End file.
